


Ghost

by RoboticPopSauce



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: But mostly angst, Family Angst, Flashback of death, Fluff and Angst, Ghost!Bill, Ghosts, I'll add more as I go, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, Paranormal Investigator Dipper, Paranormal Investigator Tyrone, Paranormal junk happens, Scientist Ford, not sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:08:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticPopSauce/pseuds/RoboticPopSauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dipper and his clone Tyrone feel that their ghost hunting show is starting to go downhill, Dipper decides to take them to one of the most paranormal-active places in the world, Gravity Falls, where they meet a ghost that changes their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I have absolutely ZERO self-control and have started yet another series. I'm supposed to be on a bit of a hiatus to finish Blood Bath, but while having writer's block for it, I came up with this idea, and had to write it out.  
> Also, Tyrone doesn't melt in this and has like a normal human body and whatnot.  
> [INDEFINITE HIATUS] Idk when/if I'll get back to this story, but rest assured I will do my best to! I just don't have the time and I feel like it's holding me back, so, for now, this will be on an indefinite hiatus.

Dipper Pines had always loved the paranormal. From ghosts to mythical beast, he loved all the things that might go bump in the night.

It started when he was just twelve, and went to spend the summer with his grunkles Stan and Ford in a little town called Gravity Falls. There, he experienced a few things that made him start to question his perception of reality, but was never able to get anything solid to prove it to his friends or family.

Well, he had accidentally cloned himself, which was  _ some _ proof, but his family just kind of played it off, and kept the clone around as if he had a second twin, which was nice for Dipper, but he was frustrated that they wouldn’t acknowledge that it was proof of the weird stuff he tried to bring into light.

Since his clone, Tyrone was what he called him, was him, the two were so close it was nearly impossible to separate them, and they would stay up late all the time, talking about conspiracy theories and anything paranormal.

Both were convinced they could find more about what the world had to offer, and were ready to do anything to prove what they knew was real.

That’s why, at the age of twenty three, they decided to pick up some gear of their own and start up a web series of them trying to capture the paranormal. For a whole year, they caught little things, just enough to get a few followers and fans, but couldn’t seem to get anything big enough to really get the show off the ground.

Finally they decided to start travelling, going to locations that had stories spun around them, and doing their investigations in more haunted places than just the old buildings around a city in California.

Well, that is, they would do that, if they could just get someone to agree to let them come in to a place.

“Dude, we’ve asked everywhere. All the big places only want big time investigators. It’s bad press if they let little guys like us in.” Tyrone was editing the last video they took, trying to pick up anything that even remotely seemed paranormal.

Dipper sighed and flicked the front of his blue and white pine tree hat that he had had for years, so that it was out of his face. “I know, I know, but there’s gotta be  _ somewhere _ that will let us come in for a night. I just haven’t found it yet.” He clicked through some more links of haunted places, hoping to find another number he could call.

Tyrone sat back in his chair, rubbing at his temples. “Can we take a break? We’ve been at this forever, and I’m hungry.”

He looked at Tyrone and huffed. Though he was Dipper’s clone, over the years they had been through different enough things that they had become their own people, and were more like brothers than anything at that point.

Ty had even made a point to cut his hair differently, and dress in bright colors, since his skin always seemed really pale for some reason or another.

“Fine, we can go get food.” Dipper stretched out his long arms and got up from his desk chair.

They had been sitting in the apartment for a few days now, obsessing over the response they got from their latest video. They had managed to capture an EVP with an intelligent response, and it was enough to get them a few thousand views more than they usually got.

“No ordering pizza Dip, we need to actually go outside for a minute or two,” Ty laughed when he saw Dipper move for his cell phone.

“Alright, alright, I get your point,” he scoffed. “Stop acting like you didn’t have the same idea.”

Ty stood up from his chair as well and ran a hand through his short, black-dyed hair. “Sure, but then I thought better of it, and decided that we shouldn’t be such major shut-ins. Let’s go to a diner or something.”

Dipper nodded and grabbed his navy blue jacket from the back of his chair. “It’s like three AM Ty, we’re going to have to do fast food, unless you want to drive for twenty minutes.”

He let out a long, annoyed grunt. “Fine, fast food it is.”

They drove in silence, Ty clearly too tired to want to hold a conversation, and Dipper too focused on not running red lights or breaking too many traffic laws, since he tended to drive five or ten over the speed limit when there was no one on the road.

Once they had their food, they sat in the car and listened to some random pop song on the radio while they ate.

As he mindlessly chewed, Dipper started to get bummed out about the lack of responses and the amount of “no”s they were getting. What if they weren’t ever able to get something out of town? Would their show crash and burn? He wouldn’t let this dream go, not without a fight, but what else could he do?

“Hey Ty?” Dipper said with his mouth full of french fries.

“Hm?”

“You ever think that maybe we aren’t going to get much more than we do? Like, don’t get me wrong, I know the paranormal exists, you’re literally living proof of it, but maybe… maybe we aren’t going to get somewhere out of town to take us, ya know?”

Ty shifted so that his back was against the door so that he could face Dipper. “Dipper, are you giving up on me? I thought for sure I’d be the first to cave, but I’m nowhere near done. Maybe we just need to go back to the basics, and see if maybe we missed some fundamental tech., or something.”

Dipper nodded and took a sip of his soda. Maybe they had been missing something. He had watched other ghost hunting shows, and tried his best to mimic what they used, what questions they asked ghosts, and anything else he could think that would help them, but maybe he had missed some key element to it all.

A basic piece had to be missing. Something in their earlier stages of the show might have been it, and they just left it in the past, thinking that they needed to jump right into the big stuff, or maybe they were using whatever it was, but just not enough.

Dipper thought back to the basics of their show for a moment, before getting an idea.

“Ty,” Dipper said suddenly “that’s it.”

Ty raised an eyebrow at him and swallowed the mouthful of his sandwich he had been chewing. “I know we usually think the same things, but I’m going to have to ask what you just thought of this time.”

“The beginning! Your beginning! Ty, how have we missed this?”

While Dipper became frantic, Ty just took another bite of his sandwich and waited for Dipper to explain.

“Gravity Falls! Why haven’t we gone back there for our show?”

His clone nearly choked on his food and he had to cough a few times before he could respond. “Dipper, it must be the exhaustion speaking, because we swore that place off at the start of this. That place has something majorly wrong with it, and we don’t know if we could be antagonizing something powerful.”

“But Ty, what if that’s what our show needs? Some big bang? Gravity Falls could be our big break. We’re bound to find something there that will prove what we’ve been telling people.” Dipper finished off his fries, and began on his cheeseburger.

Ty sighed and shrugged. “But… what if something there like, undoes the cloning process?” His voice was quiet and Dipper could feel his clone’s distress.

“We won’t get anywhere near the printer Ty. That’s the only thing I can think of that might be able to do it, we won’t need to get even close to it. I can call grunkle Ford in the morning and ask if we can come up. I bet he’ll say yes.” Dipper gave Ty his best puppydog eyes as he took a sip of his drink.

With yet another sigh, Ty finally gave in. “Alright, fine, we can go to Gravity Falls. But if things get too serious, we’re bailing, alright?”

“Of course. Thanks Ty.”

“Mm.”

The two finished their food, then drove back to their apartment, Dipper excited, and Ty half asleep.

Dipper almost felt bad for pressuring Ty into going back, but quickly dismissed the feeling. It was going to be a good thing for them, he could feel it. And he really was going to keep his word; if anything bad or too heavy happened, then they could leave, and Dipper wouldn’t even mention going back.

He didn’t want to lose Ty just as much as Ty didn’t want to die, so he would do everything he could to keep him from anything that might reverse the cloning process.

“I’m going to bed,” Ty mumbled when they got back. He yawned and ran his hands over his round face. “I’m sleeping in too. Don’t get all excited and wake me up if Ford says yes.” That was Ty’s nice way of saying, if you wake me up I’ll hang you off the porch and become the only Dipper Pines.

“I’ll try my best.” Dipper went into their computer room and sat down at his computer to begin doing some research on Gravity Falls.

Plenty of people had died there, so ghosts were a heavy possibility, and the forest surrounding the town was massive enough that it could be hiding anything. It was the perfect place for a monster hunt.

So why hasn’t anyone gone there yet? Was it just not well known enough for that kind of attention? Hopefully it was going to be, if they were able to get solid enough proof to make their show a hit. God did Dipper just want their show to get higher views.

Sure his main goal was to expose the paranormal to the world, but being a famous ghost hunter would be great icing on the cake.

After hours of looking at pictures and maps, Dipper felt a heat rise on his arm from the window on his right. The sun was up, and it had been for a good hour or two.

Knowing his grunkle Ford, he was probably either still awake like he was, or had gotten up early to do some more of his scientific, rather than paranormal, research, so Dipper decided to move to the front room and call him.

“Dipper! How’ve you been?” He sounded too cheery to have stayed up all night, so Dipper guessed that he woke up early and had already had his coffee.

“Great! How’re you?” Though he did care to know, Dipper was a little annoyed at the pleasantries right then. He wanted to get the ball rolling on this trip.

“I’ve been well! I have some things I’d like to show you sometime! This town has incredible specimens, and I’ve been able to do some extensive studies on the fungi growing near the darkest parts of the forest.”

“That’s awesome. I actually was calling to ask if Ty and I could come up and stay with you while we shot an episode of our show up there.” He clenched his fist and felt his air get caught in his chest. Ford really wasn’t one to believe in the paranormal, but he did support the show, so he was hoping the love for his great nephews was enough to trump his dislike of the “fake science”.

“Of course! So long as you set aside some time for me to show you some real science. I think you’ll enjoy the collection I’ve accumulated since you’ve last been here. Some of it’s still crawling!”

Dipper released his breath and smiled. “Perfect. We’ll head up in a day. We’ve got to get all our equipment together, then we’ll start the drive.”

“Alright, see you in a few days. Have a safe trip.”

“Thanks, see you.”

What a relief. Just when Dipper had started to feel like they weren’t getting anywhere, Gravity Falls came to him like some sort of superhero to rescue his dream.

The excitement kept him awake for even longer, and he printed out one of the maps to mark places that might be good to go through. He would still need the owner’s permission of course, but people from that town weren’t likely to say no. Especially since they knew Dipper a little bit.

“Dipper, what the fuck man. Did you really stay up all night?” Ty sat beside him on the couch, and looked at the map on the coffee table between them and their TV. “I take it Ford said yes?”

  
“Yup!” Dipper smiled at him and nudged his arm. “Pack your gear Ty, we’re going back to Gravity Falls!”


	2. Gravity Falls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I actually really like this story but haven't touched it in forever????
> 
> Well anyway, here's more of this for now :D
> 
> Hope you enjoy :3

The long, hot, boring car ride to Gravity Falls was incredibly taxing on both Dipper and Tyrone, and they drove mostly in silence, the radio being the only source of sound most of the time.

The scenery out their windows wasn’t anything too exciting either, as most of it was either small towns or just fields, both offering little to no visual stimulation.

Dipper could sense his clone's discomfort, and wanted to find a way to console him, but couldn’t seem to find the right words.

Gravity Falls could end up being a bust, so it wasn’t like Dipper could promise Ty that this would actually help. And it wasn’t like he could tell him that there was nothing to worry about either, since the history of that town proved that there probably was something to be worried about.

It was Dipper’s turn to drive, the last stretch of road just ahead of them as they waited at an old gas station.

The lights above them gave of a soft blue glow, accompanied by the low humming noise they seemed to be giving off. It was kind of irking Dipper, as he hated rest stops like this. They always had a musty smell to them, and this place was no exception.

“Ty, you’re taking forever to pick a snack,” Dipper groaned.

“I can take as long as I want. We have to wait for them to finish pumping our gas anyway.” His clone was eyeing the shelves of candy, and finally picked up a random bar of chocolate. “This and an energy drink, and I’ll be set. You should probably get one too, since it’s late and you’re going to be driving.”

Dipper waved him off and made a “psht” sound. “I’ve got this. I can handle a few miles while you eat yourself into a sugar coma.”

“You say that as if my diet is worse than yours,” Ty scoffed.

“We live together and are literally the same person. Our diets are the same.” Dipper laughed and patted him on the back. “Just go grab your drink and let’s get going. I think the gas is done now.”

With their purchase made, they piled back into their plain, black SUV, and Dipper started it up after rubbing his face.

“You sure you’re good?” Ty was already tearing open his chocolate, and had taken a large swig of his energy drink.

“Yeah, yeah, no I’m good. Just mentally preparing myself to focus on driving. Mind if I crack the window?”

“Do whatever you need, brothah.” Ty wiggled around in the seat and made sure he was comfortable before yanking the seatbelt down and clicking it on.

Dipper did the same, then pulled the car away from the station, getting back onto the road that seemed to stretch on forever.

While Tyrone still seemed stressed, Dipper was excited. He could just feel that whatever was in Gravity Falls, was his ticket to having their show lift off and having more than just a few good EVPs here and there.

Before they knew it, they were pulling up to the old shack their grunkles called home, and Dipper killed the engine.

He slumped back into the chair and let out a huff. “We’ll unload the equipment and crap tomorrow. Let’s just go inside for now.”

Ty nodded and flicked the empty can off of his lap. “I know I’m ready for bed.”

They hopped out of the car, shaking and stretching their limbs, which had stiffened in the hour or so ride from the rest stop to the shack.

Dipper didn’t bother with knocking, as he knew the grunkles wouldn’t mind the two of them walking in.

A dim light was on in the kitchen, where Ford was sitting and drinking a mug of coffee, while reading an old, thick, nearly falling apart book.

“Ah, boys! There you are!” He leaned forward on the table, which was pretty old itself, and it creaked under his weight. “I didn't think you’d get here so early.”

Ty nudged Dipper's arm and snorted. “Dipstick here was too excited _not_ to show up as soon as possible.”

“Shut up. This town is filled with cool stuff, of course I'm excited.”

“Cool, and scientific!” Ford beamed. He stood up and stretched his limbs. “Though, it is rather late, I suppose we should settle in for the night before we get into too much. Tomorrow I can show you two around my lab, and you can say hello to my lazy brother. He’s already in bed, since he didn’t think you two would be here so late.”

Dipper nodded and a yawned forced itself out. “Yeah, definitely time for bed.” He wasn’t going to admit to Ford that he was actually planning on walking around the town tomorrow, asking people about what places would be the best to investigate. Hopefully they would be helpful and nice, and he would be able to find a good place to set some gear up.

As the night went on, Ty fell asleep easily in the bed across the room from him, but Dipper found that it was much harder for him to do.

It was funny, they used to really just be the exact same person; Ty would stay up with him, would ask the same kinds of questions, joke about the same kind of things.

But now it was like Ty actually was his other twin. Not that it was a bad thing, it just wasn’t as… fun anymore.

With a sigh, Dipper forced his eyes shut, and eventually sleep came.

 

~~

 

“Dipper! Wake up you lazy ass.” Ty lightly smacked him in the face and wiggled the bed with his legs.

“Ty, what the fuck?” Dipper sat up and rubbed his face, looking at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s only nine!”

His clone rolled his eyes and started to walk to the door. “Ford wants us to hang out in his lab for a bit, and I know you want to walk around town today, so if we don’t get an early start, then we’re not going to be able to do as much.”

Instead of answering, Dipper just groaned and rolled himself out of bed, grabbing his T-shirt from the floor and pulling it on.

“Kids!” Stan greeted as the two clambered down the stairs. “There ya are. Come say hi to this old man!” He pulled them both into a hug, squeezing harder than they thought he could for his age.

“Hi, grunkle Stan,” Dipper wheezed.

“Mabel not want to come up here? What’s she up to?” he asked as he released his grip.

Dipper rubbed his arm where Stan had hugged him, and coughed a bit. “She’s still doing the whole ‘free spirit’ thing and going across the country in self discovery. Pacifica and Candy are with her, so she’s fine.”

“That rich girl? Huh, well at least she’s with someone who’s got money.” Stan shrugged. “Well, I’m going to glue my butt to the couch and watch Duck-tective. Pretty sure my nerd brother wants you two in his lab today, so good luck with that. And tell ‘im if he keeps you two from doin’ what ya came here to do I’ll kick his ass.”

“Will do Stan,” Dipper chuckled.

The two made their way to the vending machine, which served as the "secret" entrance to Ford's lab and extra rooms that were used as his storage rooms for books and old research.

It was easy to get to, since Dipper had remembered the code to get in from when he was little, and the two made their way down the stairs fairly quickly, wanting to get the science talk out of the way quickly so that they could start their actual plans for the day.

It was obvious to Dipper that Ty was becoming more and more uncomfortable as they got closer to the lab, probably terrified of the machines and things down there that could bring an end to his technically eleven year old life.

“Excellent! You’re here just in time!” Ford greeted them as soon as they stepped into view, holding a book filled with added papers sticking out from the edges. “I just finished doing some research on one of the anomalies here that causes the occasional earthquake. It’s some fascinating stuff! Care to hear about it?”

The two exchanged a look, giving a silent nod to each other. They would listen to Ford’s story for a little while, then they would find any excuse they could to leave, so that they could do some research of their own.

Ford proceeded to go one for at least _two hours,_ claiming that Gravity Falls just happened to be on a tiny fault line, and whatever caused the valley the town rested in made the ground even more unstable, which is why whenever there was the tiniest shift, they would experience an earthquake.

Dipper and Ty would just occasionally nod as he showed them his papers, both eventually just sitting on the floor and resting their head on their hands.

“Well then.” Ford cleared his throat and noted that the two looked incredibly bored. “I suppose that's enough of that for today. Come back later when you’re done with your… stuff, and we’ll talk some more about some _real_ science.”

“Okay, thanks Grunkle Ford!” Dipper nearly jumped up, scrambling to get to his feet so that he could go and get his interview stuff set up.

“Yeah, thanks Ford, see you later!” Ty followed Dipper up the stairs, both men tripping a few times.

Though he was sure that Ty was still worried, Dipper could see that his clone was also getting excited. After all, they were both invested in this show, it would be weird to see him completely dull about it.

“Okay, so I’m thinking we take a camera into town and talk to at least ten locals about places in town that could be haunted or just have weird stuff going on.” Dipper was practically skipping to the car, already getting the keys out to unpack the equipment they would need for the day.

Ty nodded and kept up with him, a smile finally finding its way onto his face. “We can scope out places today, then edit what we get tonight, then tomorrow we’ll set up _all_ of the equipment and head out to the places we get.” He paused as Dipper opened the front door and cleared his throat, his face and shoulders dropping. “ _If_ we find any places.”

Dipper stopped halfway through stepping outside and sighed. “We have to stay hopeful Ty. This is kind of our last stand. If Gravity Falls doesn’t work, I don’t know what else to do.”

His clone nodded quickly, his smile returning to his face. “Right. This will be good. We’re going to find some great spots and make two whole episodes from this place! And they will be great dammit!”

“Yeah!”

They high fived and continued their march to the car, both secretly still very anxious on the inside at Ty’s words.

This could be a bust. They could very well turn up with nothing, and it would be heart breaking for them both. It may very well mean the end of their dream to do this show.

Once they had the gear they needed, Ty sat in the passenger seat while Dipper drove, recording their journey.

“We’re in Gravity Falls, it's about noon, and we're on our way to ask the locals about spooky things that happen around town.” Ty held the camera to get a shot of the scenery passing by them as they drove, talking as if their small audience was right there. “Maybe we'll get some ghosts on camera this time.” The camera jostled a bit as they went over a bump, and Ty swore. “Fuckin’ road.”

“Ty! We’re going to edit that out!” Dipper snapped.

“So? I’m the one that does most of the editing, so I’m the one that gets to suffer. You’re just the face of things. Which is weird ‘cause we’re literally the same face, but whatever.” He fixed the camera so that it was stable again. “I put music over these shots anyway.”

Dipper nodded and couldn’t help but notice Ty’s weird attitude. He usually never commented on who did what. Was he upset that Dipper didn’t help with the editing? It really only was because he was somehow worse at it than Ty, not because he didn’t want to.

Maybe he would practice more so that Ty didn’t have to do it all.

They parked in the middle of town, glad to see that there seemed to be quite a bit of people out that day, shopping at the small stores along the streets, or visiting the arcade or library.

“Okay, so a few of these people look like they may have a few loose screws. Let’s talk to them so we can at least get the people watching factor to our show.” Ty hopped out of the car, moving a little sharply, as if he were mad.

Dipper let out a sigh and followed a little more slowly. He would have to figure out what was upsetting Ty later. First, he had to focus on getting the footage and information for the show.

He scoped out a man that looked… well, not well in the head, and figured he’d be a good person to interview to get the really weird stuff from. After all, sometimes crazy people are on to something.

“Sir!” Dipper rushed over to him, a large smile on his face to seem as friendly as possible.

“Hm? What d’ya need kiddo?” The short man spoke loudly, and his long white beard moving freely with his jaw.

“Uh, well, we have this show where we hunt ghosts and stuff, and we were wondering if you knew any places around Gravity Falls that are haunted, or have paranormal things in general.” Dipper kept his smile, but the more he looked at the man, the more uneasy he felt.

He looked like a genuine old-timey hobo, the horrid overalls and a weird hat with a hole in it making the look almost cartoonish.

The man laughed in a way that made both Ty and Dipper take a small step back, Ty putting the camera down a little.

“D-do we find someone else?” His clone asked shakily.

Before Dipper could answer, the man abruptly stopped laughing and cleared his throat.

“This town has too much ta tell! I reckon the best place to do fancy huntin’ like that is in the woods, where the ol’ church is. Word is there’s plenty o’ dead in there!” The man danced around as he spoke, almost like an old prospector.

“ _Right_ , and where exactly is this church?” Ty asked skeptically.

The old man stopped his dance and scratched at his head. “Can’t say I rightly remember fully. All I know is that the place has an old trail leading to it at the edge of town by that Mystery Shack. It’ll lead ya right to it!”

Dipper perked up. What luck! The first person they talk to, and he gave them some great information. “Thank you! Do you know any history of the place?”

“All’s I know is that it got abandoned after some sad sap offed ‘imself in it. Poor feller got his heart broken or something. Left at the altar by some heartless lady. I think she used ‘im for his money? It happened years ago though, so might not be nothin’ left there.”

“Awesome! We-well, not awesome that he died, but awesome that there’s a story to go off of!” Dipper grabbed the man’s hand and shook it excitedly. “Thank you! What’s your name?”

The man smiled and waved his hand at Dipper. “Ain’t no trouble! Jus’ call me Old Man Mcgucket! I’m the local kooc! Heh-heh!” With that, the man danced off, leaving the two younger men in a bit of shock.

“Well, that was probably a bust. The dude was clearly insane.” Ty shut the camera off and sighed. “Oh well. Still early. Let’s go to the next person.”

Before Dipper could address Ty disregarding Mcgucket like that, his clone was walking away, fiddling with his camera.

His behavior was starting to worry Dipper a little. It was weird that he couldn’t figure out what was wrong for once too, since usually he knew exactly what _he_ would be feeling, which was what Ty would be feeling. But now Ty was so different. He was his own person.

“Let’s get a few of the people who actually work in some of these places so that we don’t accidentally get a tourist who might fuck with us.” He readied the camera again and headed into a shop, not even waiting for Dipper to follow.

Dipper let out a sigh and put his happy face back on. This was going to be a long day.

 

~~

 

“Well, that was a bust. I have scenery shots now, but that’s about it.” Ty was pacing back and forth in the attic, staring at the now set up editing equipment on the desk between their beds.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a bust. Sure no one else was willing to say much, but at least we have that church thing to go off of. We can head out tomorrow and do some research on it and try to find it.” Dipper was sitting against his headboard, reading off the screen of his laptop. He had already taken it upon himself to try and search for something more about the church, since he had a feeling there was at least _some_ truth to it.

Ty sat down on his bed in a huff. “Sure, let’s believe the old man and go get lost in the fucking woods. Not to mention waste our time researching something that probably doesn’t exist.”

“It’s the only lead we got. You saw how everyone else reacted, we’re not getting much for a little while, might as well go with what we have. Who cares if we waste time, we don’t have a set schedule right now.” Dipper glanced over at Ty, finding that he was practically fuming.

“You do that then. I’ll go out tomorrow and get some more shots of the town and ask some different people. We’ll see who’s more productive.” He flopped down on his back then turned away from Dipper, letting out a deep sigh.

Something was clearly bothering him, but Dipper figured he’d wait to ask until he was calmed down.

His mind was still stuck on the church anyway, and he figured that it kind of needed to be his priority right now. Ty would get over whatever was bothering him, but their show couldn’t go on much longer without something big happening.

As the night went on, and the more Dipper read up on the history of Gravity Falls, he decided that with or without Ty’s help, he was going to go find the church and investigate.

With how much weird stuff he’d seen in this town when he was younger, there was bound to be _something_ there. There had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I haven't touched this in such a long time DX
> 
> More to come soon, and next chapter will have an update schedule in the notes, so look for that! :D


	3. Not so Friendly Ghost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short 'cause it's just Dippy finding out that you don't just barge into a ghosts haunting place and make loud noises. Turns out it makes them angry :p

Loud beeps echoed through the room, waking both Dipper and his clone. They groaned in unison and rolled off of their beds.

“Morning,” they mumbled to each other.

The tension from the night before seemed to be forgotten in their sleepy stupour, and Dipper entirly forgot to ask Ty what was bothering him while they were alone in their room.

They made their way downstairs, both shirtless and in their matching blue pajama bottoms to have a lazy breakfast.

“Good morning boys,” Ford greeted as they sat at the table. His eyes left his book for a moment as he examined them. “I’m guessing I need to make more coffee?”

They both hummed in response.

“Well alright then. I’ll start up another pot. Did you two have plans today?” He stood from the chair and grabbed the mug he had, heading for the small machine that was tucked away next to the fridge.

“Yeah, we need to do more filming.” Ty ran his fingers through his short, black hair and huffed. “And editing. I swear too much on camera.”

Ford let out a short chuckle. “I see. Still chasing after the paranormal.” He pushed the start button on the coffee maker then returned to his spot at the table, picking up his book. “You’d think you of all people would be more interested in science, seeing as you came from it.”

“Technically we all came from ‘science’,” Ty snapped. “Biology is science. There for we all came from it.” He crossed his arms and sniffled a bit, acting indifferent towards his own outburst.

Their grunkle looked up from his book again and raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that’s true,” he hummed. His gaze returned to his book as the smell of coffee filled the air. “I still would like to know more about how you came into being. All these years and all we’ve been able to do is accept it. I’d like to get to the bottom of it.”

“Or we could leave it alone and drink coffee,” Dipper interjected. He knew that Ty didn’t like talking about the fact that he was basically just tolerated because they had no other choice. It would hurt anyone to hear that. Also, Dipper was sure that Ty had the idea in his head that Ford was going to like, disect him or something. Which, knowing Ford, wouldn’t be too far fetched if he had the okay to do so.

Dipper elected to make both he and Ty some bacon and eggs, hoping that it would be a bit of a peace offering after their tiff the night before.

He said thank you when Dipper handed him a plate and refilled his coffee mug, but otherwise stayed silent.

It hurt Dipper a little to know that he was still upset, but he knew that  _ he _ still would be, so he let it go. Though, he would like it if he knew exactly  _ what _ Ty was upset about. They usually told each other literally everything, why was he holding something back?

When they went back upstairs to get dressed, Dipper felt the tension grow as they slipped on their day clothes. Ty’s outfit consisted of a black T-shirt and jeans, while Dipper decided to throw on a red flannel shirt and his black skinny jeans.

He used to hate that type of pants, but the grew on him when he managed to find the right size that would let him move freely. He hated clothes that were too baggy, so they were nice to have.

“Yeah, bring one of the nice cameras to capture you getting lost and probably dying, that’s smart,” Ty snapped as Dipper put the camera’s strap around his neck, not caring to flip the collar of his shirt over it.

He sighed and adjusted it so that it sat more comfortably on him. “Ty, why are you so against this? What if we really find something?”

His clone slumped his larger camera over his shoulder and threw up his free hand, annoyed. “Gee, I don’t know Dipper, maybe it’s because this is kind of our last chance at making this work, and you’re not taking it seriously by listening to the first stupid thing you hear!”

“What is your problem? ‘Stupid’? Ty, we literally fucking  _ live _ this shit!  _ You _ are a walking ‘stupid thing’! Paranormal stuff never sounds sane! Grunkle Ford still questions your existence, you saw that downstairs! Your my clone for fuck’s sake! We are the same human being.” He fixed a battery pack on his mini equipment belt and chuckled dryly. “See? It  _ sounds _ like I’ve spilled my marbles and purposefully kicked them across the room, but it’s true!”

Dipper stepped close enough to Ty to tap his chest then continued. “You’re real. I can’t explain it, you can’t, and Ford, who’s a literal genius, can’t.” He stopped his rant for a moment and sighed, “There’s not much else we can do anyway, so why not just believe the crazy old man?”

He felt incredibly satisfied with his little speach, but Ty still didn’t seem to keen on going out into the woods.

“Just go do your thing and I’ll do mine, okay?” He grabbed a tripod, since he would have to film and speak at the same time, then made his way to the bedroom door. “Just…” he paused before closing it behind himself, “don’t die, okay? I don’t know what happens to me if the original goes.”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “Same goes to you. Maybe we have that thing where if one dies the other does too.”

Ty scoffed then shut the door.

With a sigh, Dipper finished arming himself with two smaller, not as nice cameras, a few battery packs, and put a mic on himself. Worried it might be a long hike, he also brought a backpack with water bottles and snacks, just in case.

“Hey sport, headin’ out?” Stan was in his usual lazy-wear, a mug of probably coffee in his hand and a newspaper tucked under his arm. That just meant he was going to sit on the couch, put the paper over his face, then sleep while the TV was on.

“Yep. Going to find a church in the woods. Ever heard of it?”

Stan scratched at his chin and shrugged. “Eh, probably some dumb ol’ legend. But, if your little nerd heart is set on it, then by all means, go explore it kiddo. Just come back to this crap shack when you’re done.” He ruffled Dipper’s hair the continued his shuffle to the living room.

“Will do grunkle Stan.”

~~

Finding the path that the old man said he should follow was more difficult than he thought it would be. He circled the shack a few times before he found anything close to what the start of a path could be, then followed that for about an hour before realizing he probably didn’t have the right start.

With a groan, Dipper sat on a rock and let his face fall into his hands. It was only ten and he was failing miserably. He was secretly hoping Ty was having issues too, but he also wanted nothing more than his clone to be succeeding, since at that point it seemed the show depended on him.

“Ty was right,” he sighed, “I shouldn’t have listened to that old guy. Or I guess I could have at least asked for better directions.” He kicked a pebble by his foot and huffed. Might as well keep walking around. At least he’d get a cool adventure out of it, not to mention some nature shots, which were always good filler.

He got up and grabbed the camera that was dangling around his neck, figuring he’d just record everything he did from there.

“Hello,” he started a bit awkwardly after he pressed the recording button, “this is the big idiot here who decided to follow the first exciting thing he heard, blindly. Now I’m on an adventure in the woods. By myself. Lookin’ at trees.” He pointed the camera upwards as he walked so that it would show how tall the trees were.

After a little while of making stupid, idle commentary, Dipper felt like maybe he should turn tail and return to the shack in defeat.

He lowered the camera and was about to shut it off when a small creaking sound caught his attention. Immediately he lifted the camera back up and pointed to where the sound had come from and started to walk towards it.

A slight dip lead down into a small valley where old remnants of the forgetten part of town could be seen.

Small piles of bricks and wood were scattered around in the shapes of a few buildings, and dry, dead, weeds and bushes grew around and over them, making the place look like something out of a horror movie.

Near the back of it all, a small, almost two story church still stood. Small flecks of white paint still stuck to the structure, but a lot of it was mostly chipped or bleached off by the sun.

Jackpot.

“Well, well, look at what I found!” He boasted to the camera.

Dipper rushed down the hill, laughing the whole way. “Not a bust! You see this Ty? Old hobo man was right!” He paused and laughed even harder. “We can edit this audio out!”

Soon enough he was standing in front of the antique wooden double doors of the derelect building.They were tall and a little intimidating, the dark wood screaming to be put in some sort of scary movie. He wasn’t sure why the building had survived better than the others, but he wasn’t complaining. This material was gold.

He took a deep breath before pushing one of the doors open. It creaked horribly and he had to kick down a few vines that had climbed them, but it opened nonetheless.

Sauntering inside, Dipper made sure to get plenty of shots to rub in Ty’s face. But in a loving way, to show him that Gravity Falls wasn’t so bad. That is, if he caught any activity in there.

It lead him right into the nave of the church where broken pews sat in several rows. A few still had some green coushioning on them, but most were torn apart or just missing that part.

The upper level was a simple choir loft that was small enough to let Dipper know that the choir couldn’t have been more than ten people, if that. The thing wrapped around the right side of the church and along the wall now behind him, giving a small catwalk between the stairs and where the choir would stand above the crowd. It had a simple railing around it, posts every few feet, a few very broken and with rope tied around them.

He would make sure to stay clear of those.

A thick layer of grim covered everything and Dipper could see dust particles floating in the small beams of light that were poking in through the holes in the walls and ceiling. It made the whole place seem strangely calm and still.

_ Not _ what Dipper wanted.

“‘Kay, so I’m going to go climb that staircase,” he said as he pointed the camera to the back of the room where a sturdy-enough staircase sat, “then I’m going to ring the bell that should be up there. Legends online said that the main ghost that is believed to still be here is of a man who hung himself after his bride left him here. I guess she stole all of his money and ran off with another man who had been in on the plot the whole time. Very dramatic stuff.”

He only continued when he started to climb the stairs, trying to keep his camera still. “It’s said that if you ring the bell, it’ll remind him of his loss and get him to do stuff. Though, I really don’t think many people have ever tried. This place clearly hasn’t seen anyone in a long time.”

Once he reached the top he looked back to the front of the building to see if he could find the rope attached to the bell. It wasn’t a large bell by any means, so the small structure holding it on the roof just opened up to the loft, the rope dangling down in rays of sunlight.

It was such an incredible shot, Dipper stayed in place for a moment to gawk at it. The light almost made it seem like some sort of quest starter in a video game. He chuckled to himself about his dumb thought.

Slowly, Dipper walked towards it, the aged boards creaking with every step. He would need to be careful up there.

His fingertips barely touched the rope before he drew them back and inhaled sharply.

“Guess I should address the spirit before rudely waking him up.” He cleared his throat and made sure to speak loudly and clearly. “I apologize if I am disturbing your peace. I mean no harm, I only wish to communicate with you.” He pulled an EVP recorder from his pocket and started it up. “If you wish to say something, say it into this little box in my hand, okay?”

Since he was all set with what he thought he would need, Dipper reached for the rope again, this time yanking it down.

Even though the bell was small, it produced a loud and booming ring, one that had Dipper stumbling back a bit.

On the camera’s screen, he could see static start to fuzz over it and the battery dropped a charge level.

His heart began to pound against his ribs. Ghost activity. Real, happening to him while he was recording, ghost activity!

“I can see you doing that to my camera,” he announced to the spirit. “What is your name?” He paused so that it would have time to answer.

Dipper opened his mouth to speak again but froze as he watched his camera’s screen glitch out, colors exploding around it before going completely black. As quickly as his shaking hands could, Dipper pulled out his plan B camera fromt he side pocket of his backpack.

Dead.

His plan C camera was also drained.

He looked down at the EVP recorder and found that the little red light had shut off. It was dead, which made him figure that his spare battery packs were probably being sucked dry as well.

This was good. But also bad. Now he was experiencing all this stuff without any proof.

As a last resort, Dipper pulled his cell phone out.

Ten percent battery.

“Fuck,” he cursed loudly. “Okay, I get that you’re here. Sorry for messing with you, I really am.” And just like that his phone died.

Not a second later the rope for the bell was pulled again, this time so harshly it broke off and fell to the floor.

The ringing made Dipper cringe and back away. “Alright! I’ll go!” He tried to shout over the bell but he doubted anyone or anything could’ve heard him.

A few feet away the broken off rope slide straight towards him and wrapped his legs together.

Dipper fell back on his ass and frantically untied his legs. At that point he was scared. He had never heard of a spirit being this powerful, even after draining all of the equipment that it had.

...Unless this was a poltregiest. Which even thinking about made Dipper shake more. From everything he had ever seen or heard, those were not to be fucked with. They killed people.

“I wanted some activity, but this is way too much for me,” he joked to himself in a strained voice as he got back to his feet. “I will be leaving now!” He B-lined it for the stairs, his head turned to keep an eye on the front door he had left open, just in case.

_ Gonna make it, gonna make it, _ he chanted in his head.

Before he even reached the top of the stairs the door slammed shut so hard the whole building shook.

An unearhtly, inhuman voice gurgled out the word, “stay” and it made Dipper go pale. A black figure that had no real defining features seemed to form from the shadows around them and stood in his way to get back down the stairs.

“I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have messed with you, I had no right coming here.” His voice cracked horribly and he took a few steps back from the thing. “I should’ve stayed home,” he whimpered.

The thing came at him faster than he could blink an he felt himself being pushed against the weak railing. His camera that was on the strap around his neck flung off and fell onto the first floor.

Dipper fully expected to follow it since the railing splintered under his weight, but instead found himself being flung forwards into the wall, his face smacking into it so hard he felt the wood crack and blood start to drip from his nose.

He stumbled back and groaned at the stinging feeling coming from every part of his face. “P-please! Let me go! I’m s-sorry!” He pinched his nose and tried to run to the stairs but a strong grip grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to the ground.

The touch felt like it was draining all of his energy, and after having walked for a while to even get there, Dipper felt himself start to black out.

“Pl-please,” he whined as the thing stood above him.

It moved closer, but before Dipper could see what it was doing, the black spots in his vision grew, and he was out cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOP. DIPPY DOWN.
> 
> Tyrone, go save him.
> 
> This is one of the stories I have on hiatus until I finish some others. Sorry that's such a long pause between chapters, but I have other fics that are just easier to write for me. I love this one to DEATH (Punpunpunpun) but it's hard for me to write because I know how it ends and I myself am not ready for it XD
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciate bros 8)


	4. Saving Investigator Dipper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOOONG time no see with this fic, eh? Welp, here is an update now. Reached my donation goal for a new laptop, so I promised I'd update every chapter fic I have going :D
> 
> Check out my Tumblr bio if you wanna find out how to get chapters early ;D
> 
> Anyway, here's Ty's little adventure to find Dipper. Hopefully he's okay >:Dc
> 
> Enjoy!~

Ty stared at the drink in front of him as a drop of water slid down the side of the glass. He was incredibly bored, sitting at a diner while he waited for some kind of text or call from Dipper.

It was infuriating that he wanted to go off alone in the woods, but he knew himself well enough to know that the less cynical side of him would do the same. And that’s really what Dipper had become. Or, what  _ he _ had become. The more cynical, salty, Dipper Pines. He was his clone, sure, but at this point, he felt more like just some weird reflection of Dipper.

He yawned and rested his head on his hand, flicking the glass as he glanced down at his phone which was lying on the table next to his half-eaten plate of fries. Still no notification light. It was late in the day and Ty had proved unsuccessful with the locals and he was hoping that Dipper was doing better out in the woods. He may have been a bit of an ass about the situation, but he really didn’t want their show to go under either. Too much time and effort had gone into it, and he wasn’t about to let that all go to waste.

After drinking the rest of his soda, Ty paid his bill then left the diner, carrying his phone as if it would ring at any minute. Even if he and Dipper had just gotten into a fight, he thought that he would still check in at least.

The drive back to the shack felt agonizingly slow. Some part of him had started to feel  _ bad. _ He couldn’t place what was wrong, but  _ something _ definitely was.

Halfway through his drive he could’ve sworn he heard a bell chiming, but with the music playing he ignored it. It was more than likely just his head playing tricks on him, and he wasn’t about to feel any kind of guilty for letting Dipper go alone.

“Dipper?” Ty stomped up to the room, about to yell at his clone for not checking in with him. Mad at him or not, Dipper knew their rule about splitting up. They had both seen enough horror movies to know the damn rules.

Nothing in the room had changed from when they left. Dipper wasn’t there, and he sure as Hell hadn’t been in the kitchen or living room with Stan.

“The kid not back yet?” Stan grunted as Ty flew through the front room to the door.

“No. Did he tell you when he was going to be back?” He paused before he closed the door and waited for Stan’s response.

“Not really,” Stan shrugged. “Probably just got stuck walkin’ in circles out in the woods. Go fetch ‘im before it gets dark, will ya? Come back if ya can’t find him and I’ll send out the nerd to help. He knows that place well enough 'cause of his research.”

Ty nodded and bolted out the door, not wanting to waste any more daylight. Something in his core told him that Dipper needed his help, and whether it was their bond or just a bad feeling, he wasn’t going to stop running until he found his clone.

“What did that old hobo guy say? A path? Where…?” Ty mumbled to himself as he circled the shack. He couldn’t see any direct path the man could’ve been talking about, but luckily Dipper’s shoes had left a few imprints on the dirt, giving him a general idea of which way he should go.

Time went on while he searched, the trees beginning to turn gray as the sun drifted lower and lower behind the horizon, the color making Ty’s gut churn. Multiple times he found himself running his hands through his short hair, staring out at the seemingly endless wall of tree trunks.

“Dipper!” He shouted his clone’s name a few times, desperately hoping to get an answer of some kind back, even if it was a weak one. Maybe Dipper had tripped or a branch fell on him. Or maybe the idiot had fallen asleep somewhere while taking pictures. Ty could only hope the reason for him being missing was so simple.

After a few more minutes of walking, a cold, almost painful chill crawled up his spine and his legs started to carry him faster.

“Dipper!” He started to jog, nearly tripping over a rock or two as he tried to find any sign of his clone. “Dipper!” His voice cracked and by then he was in a full-on sprint, eyes darting around for  _ anything _ that could lead him to Dipper.

It had grown dark by the time his throat was too sore to yell anymore, but Ty had the flashlight on his phone to help keep him going. As idiotic as it had been of Dipper to go alone, he wasn’t about to let his clone die out in the woods.

They had their differences, sure, but in some weird way they were brothers and he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if Dipper had gotten hurt just because Ty wouldn’t go out into the stupid woods with him.

After about an hour or so of running, by some sort of miracle, Ty came upon a small hill where he skidded to a stop. Breathing heavily, he looked down onto the valley and nearly fell over from relief when his eyes landed on a church.

The place looked like it was barely staying upright, but plants around the closed door looked like they had been broken recently, so he was hopeful that Dipper was just busy exploring the place or getting footage of the area. Not that any of the other buildings were much to look at, but it would still be cool for the creepy factor.

“Dipper?” Ty’s voice was soft as he stepped inside the building, not wanting to startle Dipper or any possible animals inside. “Come out right now, asshole, you had me worried sick,” he demanded a little louder.

Everything about the church screamed horror movie, especially since he was an idiot and only brought his cell phone with him, not having thought about how dark it would get when he ran out the door.

In his mind, though, the creepiest part of the whole thing was the silence. Even his footsteps didn’t make much noise against the old wood.

He shined his light at the pews, looking down each row on either side as he walked. Maybe Dipper had found an old book there and fell asleep while reading it. That sounded like something either of them would do.

...Or not. On the floor in front of a pew sat one of the cameras Dipper had taken, a small pool of fresh blood around it.

The red color shining back at Ty made the world around him slow to a complete stop, the hand holding his phone shaking. Slowly, as if something would pounce on him if he moved too quickly, Ty leaned down to pick up the camera.

His hand hovered over it for a moment, afraid that when he turned it on it would show him exactly where the blood came from.

Ty gulped and gripped the camera tightly, about to pick it up before a drop of blood hit his hand and made him freeze. Almost immediately his eyes snapped up to the source, the flashlight on his phone following quickly.

A pale hand hung over the railing, a single stream of blood oozing from the middle of the palm down the index finger.

Without a second thought, Ty picked up the camera and rushed over to the stairs, trying to find the safest way to climb them to get to Dipper. They looked somewhat sturdy, but he worried rushing up them wouldn’t be a very good idea, and the thought of having to carry Dipper down them wasn’t a pretty thing either.

“Dipper!” He tried to shout again to see if he could wake up him up, but it didn’t work. Dipper must’ve been out cold and probably had been for hours. “Good fuck, I should’ve come with you,” he cursed as he began his careful trip up the stairs.

Each step produced a creaking sound that made Ty cringe, though he was happy to finally have some noise other than his panicked breathing or the occasional thick dripping sound of Dipper’s blood. He only hoped he had gotten there fast enough to actually help his clone.

“I swear to god, if you’re dead I’m going to harass you as a ghost for content,” he mumbled when he finally reached the top of the stairs.

Skeptical that the floor wouldn’t hold him very well, Ty kept his creeping pace, making his way over to Dipper much too slowly for his liking. Who knew what even a second of first aid could mean for him right then. It could save his life, for all Ty knew.

“Dipper?” Ty kneeled beside his clone, his hand going right for his neck to check his pulse. Thankfully there was a steady one, though Dipper felt like ice to the touch.

Ty looked around to see what could have made Dipper end up like this, but the only thing he noticed was the broken banister on which his clone cut his hand on. Nothing could’ve knocked him out, and yet Dipper was lying unconscious on the floor.

“Wake up,” Ty grumbled, the worry in his voice buried under his annoyance. Somehow Dipper had knocked himself out cold on nothing, making Ty have to go out and rescue his dumb ass.

Dipper groaned and turned on his side, coughing a few times before opening his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath to collect himself before trying to speak. “Ty?” Sitting up, Dipper narrowed his eyes at Ty, hissing when he set his bleeding hand down. “The fuck happened?”

“You tell me,” Ty snapped. “You go out into the woods alone for hours and nearly get yourself killed on nothing, making me have to come get your ass. What the fuck?” He was going to say more, rip into Dipper for being so hard-headed, but when his clone flinched at his words he knew he was being a bit harsh.

Letting out a large sigh, Ty stood and offered his hand to Dipper. “Look, regardless, it’s dark out and this place is barely standing. Getting out of here sounds like a pretty great idea to me.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Dipper slurred as he took his clone’s hand. He leaned against Ty heavily and held his injured hand to his chest, clearly too exhausted to walk on his own.

Ty still couldn’t see why Dipper was so out of it. Nothing had fallen on him, he hadn’t lost enough blood to really warrant this level of fatigue, and it didn’t even look like he had tripped. He supposed the camera he picked up could give some answers, but when he tried to turn it on as they left he found it to be dead.

“We’ll charge this when we get home," he grumbled, hanging it around his neck. "I assume you were filming when you went in, right? It’ll have whatever you were recording saved on it somewhere.” Ty had made sure of that back when they started the show. Spirits were notorious for draining batteries, so he knew he had to make the cameras save everything as it was recorded, just in case a ghost was feeling power hungry while they were filming.

Dipper grunted in acknowledgment, his weight becoming heavier and heavier. They had made it back into the forest, and thanks to Ty’s sense of direction he knew how to get home, but he wasn’t sure if he could carry Dipper the entire way.

“Could you maybe pick up your feet?” he grumbled. “You’re kind of heavy.”

“I feel like shit,” Dipper chuckled. “But if it means making it to bed, I can try.”

In mostly silence with a lot of struggling, they managed to make it back to where they could see lights, likely from Ford and Stan getting ready to call for a search party. Thankfully they wouldn’t need one, though Dipper had stopped carrying any of his own weight and Ty was exhausted.

“Stan! Hey! We’re over here! Little help, please!” Ty called out towards the lights, not surprised to see them hustle towards them after he yelled.

“What happened?” Ford was at Dipper’s side in a second, Stan letting out a noticeably large sigh of relief when he slowed to a stop in front of them.

“I dunno,” Ty panted. “Found him passed out in the old church out there. His hand is bleeding, but there was no real reason for him to be out cold like he was. Now he’s just- just  _ heavy. _ ”

Stan stepped forward and wrapped Dipper’s arm over his shoulders, taking his weight off of Ty. “I got ‘im from here. We’re real close to the shack, so it won’t be hard to lay ‘im down soon. Looks like the kid could use it. Musta run a marathon and tripped,” he mused.

“Well, whatever happened,” Ford said as he started walking, “getting Dipper to bed sounds like a great idea. Come along, Tyrone, you seem like you could use the rest as well.”

Ty gave a short nod and dragged his feet behind them back to the shack, ready to sleep for the next few days, if he could. His curiosity to find out what was on Dipper’s camera would likely wake him up in a few hours, though, as soon as it was charged enough to turn on and play what it had recorded.

“I’ll put ‘im down on the couch for now. Don’t think my back’ll let me carry the kid up the stairs.” Stan placed Dipper on the couch gently, waving his hand at Ford. “Make yourself useful and get Dipper a blanket, will ya?”

With a scoff, Ford did as Stan asked and fetched a quilt Mabel had made from the closet, tossing it to his twin while looking at Ty.

“You just found him like this? Are you sure he wasn’t hit in the head or anything? If he has a concussion someone needs to stay with him and watch him sleep.” Ford looked down at Dipper, narrowing his eyes at the wound on his hand. “I’ll have to clean and bandage that wound too,” he added under his breath.

Ty shrugged. “The only thing by him was some old railing that cut his hand open. There wasn’t anything that he could’ve hit him from where he was laying, so I doubt he has a concussion.” A yawn forced its way out and Ty rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, a sign that he really needed to lie down.

“Well, if you think of anything, let me know. I’ll stay with him tonight just in case. You should get some sleep. Dragging him through the forest must’ve been tiring.” Ford plopped down into the old chair, one that had been pushed to the side years ago in favor of the more family-friendly seating.

Ty nodded and yawned again, unable to force words out. Seeing that Stan and Ford had Dipper taken care of, he made his way upstairs before he was too tired to. His feet felt like bricks and his eyes were threatening to close the second he got into their room, but he still made sure to plug Dipper’s camera in before he fell over onto the bed.

He would feel like shit in the morning, he could already tell, but at least he would be getting some answers. The footage would make great content for their show too, though he wasn’t going to bet too much on that until he saw for sure what it was that knocked Dipper out.

For all he knew, Dipper could’ve tripped on his own feet, which wouldn’t exactly pass for “cool paranormal activity” with their fans. Either way, though, at least he was going to sate his curiosity.  _ Something _ happened to Dipper in that church, and he was going to find out what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They gon see a GHOST. ((roll credits joke here))
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Idk how often I'll come back to this fic, but I plan to try my best to start finishing things so that I can move on to more things. So no promises, but we can hope for more chapters soon, rather than, y'know, waiting a year owo;;
> 
> Comments and kudos much appreciated! Tbh I work on fics based off of demand, so if you like this fic, COMMENT :p I can't tell if people like it if y'all stay quiet about it :p

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, I hate editing and always write late at night, so please excuse any mistakes! :D


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